Any chance a CMST 3 ever gets legs? My team is playing MS-02 this weekend and will definitely play MS-03 in the spring, but I KNOW there's room for another set inasmuch as we intend to host another Barrington Invitational on St. Patrick's Day, 2012. I still get a warm feeling at the reaction at our use of CMST I, with players from other teams lauding the greatness of the questions, with one even wanting to send a personal letter to Andy Watkins and Dwight Wynne.

Moving Day wrote:Any chance a CMST 3 ever gets legs? My team is playing MS-02 this weekend and will definitely play MS-03 in the spring, but I KNOW there's room for another set inasmuch as we intend to host another Barrington Invitational on St. Patrick's Day, 2012. I still get a warm feeling at the reaction at our use of CMST I, with players from other teams lauding the greatness of the questions, with one even wanting to send a personal letter to Andy Watkins and Dwight Wynne.

We don't have any sort of organizational structure - as far as I know, everyone who did major work on last year's CMST (me included) doesn't have the time/energy to do the major writer-coordinating efforts it would take to get this off the ground this month. Would you be interested in overseeing writer recruitment/assignments? I can do most of the editing once my schedule clears up a little bit in December/January.

It's in my best interests for there to be a CMST 3, since my students are looking forward to playing it this spring. I would volunteer as a writer, but is it some sort of a conflict of interest for me to be writing questions my kids will eventually be playing?

MichaelFalk wrote:It's in my best interests for there to be a CMST 3, since my students are looking forward to playing it this spring. I would volunteer as a writer, but is it some sort of a conflict of interest for me to be writing questions my kids will eventually be playing?

Jeff wrote for CMST last year, so it would probably be fine.

And if this gets off the ground (and I really hope it does) I'm definitely interested in helping to write for and/or edit the set.

The operating assumption is that no one associated with set production would do it just to feed answers to their kids. So, no, it'd be totally cool for you to write for it. I wrote 10/10 for last year's CMST, while I proofread the first one. The key is that there doesn't seem to be a lot of interest from other people, particularly in leading the recruitment drive and overseeing the writing assignments. I know I don't have time for it, but would be happy to write another 10/10.

Moving Day wrote:All of these writers and ZERO chiefs. Is there anyone who can take on Dwight's role from last year? Maybe Dwight can come back and post an explanation of what needs to be done.

I took on about three separate roles last year, so I've split them up below. I'm really busy this November and won't have the time to get involved in starting this up, but I'll join in once everything else settles down a little.

Facilitator1. PM everyone who signs up to write to get their e-mail address and the categories they want to write in. Also ask them if they are interested in any sort of subject editing or proofreading.2. Set up a Google Spreadsheet for answer selection and individual documents for each category (English Language Literature, Juvenile Literature, Other Literature and Language Arts, American History, European History, World/Ancient History, Geography, Life Science, Physical Science, Astronomy, Mathematics, Visual Arts, Auditory Arts, Religion, Mythology, Current Events, Popular Culture).3. Combine this all into a single folder. Label it "CMST 2012."4. Share the folder with everyone whose e-mail addresses you have collected.5. Follows up with each individual writer to secure their writing commitment ("I will have X/X done in these categories by this date").5. Periodically bumps this thread in case potential new writers are looking at the thread or we need to call for new writers.A. This job is pretty much over in December except for following up with writers.

Chief Editor1. Coordinates subject editing schedule.2. Oversees subject editing and makes final edits for difficulty and repeat replacement.3. Combines packets and sends them to proofreaders for final cosmetic edits.4. Presses the panic button at appropriate times when people inevitably start slipping on their assignments.A. Since I will probably end up having some say in the production schedule regardless, I will take on this role again.

Bid Coordinator1. Makes official announcement regarding CMST 3 date availability and hosting guidelines.2. Answers questions from potential hosts (or posts them in the private forum for the group to answer, then sends back the group's response).3. Starts and runs the "Bids 2012" thread in the private forum that basically makes sure that all of our potential hosts are doing non-crazy things and that no site is going to significantly take away from a second site's field. Once we make sure of that, notify the host that they have been accepted as a host site.4. Maintains a spreadsheet of host site, host contact, and tournament date (either online or on their own computer).5. Sends hosts a copy of the set no later than the Tuesday before the tournament; earlier if requested by the host.6. Follows up with hosts for statistics and set feedback.7. Optionally, identifies and contacts hosts in potential new areas inquiring into use of our set.A. This job is pretty easy if you have halfway decent communication skills. It takes about 30 minutes a week on the busy weeks.

Subject editors and writers should be pretty self-explanatory.

Die-hard writers (we need at least 3) are pretty simple: you sign up to write a minimum of 20/20 in "whatever needs to be done." This means you are assigned whatever categories no one signs up to write in. If everyone does their commitment in a timely manner, you're done. If not, you pick up the slack for whatever categories aren't getting written.

READ THIS IF YOU ARE A NEW WRITER: Once you are added to the Google Docs, you need to go into the User Control Panel and add yourself to the CMST User Group. I will confirm you. You should then see the private forum.

cvdwightw wrote:FacilitatorA. This job is pretty much over in December except for following up with writers.

Over in December, is it? Well, I'll volunteer to do this then.

Also: whoever ends up doing job #3 (organizing the bids) should get in touch with me. I suspect my inbox in February and March is going to be full of "how do we strengthen our wildcard bid for MSNCT?" and "this is our first time going to nationals, how should we prepare?" It would be awesome to have this set available to answer those questions.

cvdwightw wrote:FacilitatorA. This job is pretty much over in December except for following up with writers.

Over in December, is it? Well, I'll volunteer to do this then.

Thanks Jeff. Yeah, the Facilitator's job is to pretty much get everything started, making sure that we have enough writers to complete the set and that they're all able to access the Google Docs and user groups. After that, it'll be my job to make sure everyone is doing the right things and on time.

This tournament could still use more writers. If you are willing and able to write 10/10 but haven't already volunteered to do so, don't be shy.

If everybody waits until the last second to write/post their questions, this set suffers a crisis of confidence and there is less time for editing. If you have time to write and post questions in the next two or three weeks, you provide a huge service to this set by doing that, even if it's not all of the questions you agreed to write. (I've already stated that I am not going to be fulfilling this role this year, but it would help a lot if other people did.)

Communication is huge. Whenever anybody from this set contacts you about writing and editing, reply by stating what you are going to do and when you are going to do it. If you are not going to do anything, then it is especially important that you reply and state that you are not going to do anything. Only agree to do work that you actually will do, and if that falls apart for any reason, then apologize and clarify things ASAP.

David ReinsteinPACE President, Head Writer and Editor for Scobol Solo and Masonics (Illinois), TD for New Trier Scobol Solo and New Trier Varsity, Writer for NAQT, IHSSBCA Board Member, IHSSBCA Chair (2004-2014), New Trier Coach (1994-2011)

A quick look through the claims reveals that most people who have expressed preferences have noted science or fine arts. So history, literature, or current events would be great.

That being said, we also have about eight people who have signed up for "10/10 of whatever" (and because this is a middle school set, that's a credible claim even for people writing outside their usual categories.)

bt_green_warbler wrote:A quick look through the claims reveals that most people who have expressed preferences have noted science or fine arts. So history, literature, or current events would be great.

That being said, we also have about eight people who have signed up for "10/10 of whatever" (and because this is a middle school set, that's a credible claim even for people writing outside their usual categories.)

In the past, non-math science, auditory arts, and all of the literature/language arts categories have been the hardest to fill. I think we ought to be fine with the first two given the number of people preferring those categories, but literature (especially juvenile/young adult literature, which has historically been the last category filled) is still a major need.

bt_green_warbler wrote:A quick look through the claims reveals that most people who have expressed preferences have noted science or fine arts. So history, literature, or current events would be great.

I'm interested in signing on as a writer for this, assuming a 10/10 requirement. I'm most comfortable contributing history, but I could also chip in for literature or CE at this level.

What is the time frame for completion of our assignments? Also, what should we aim for in terms of difficulty, length, and style?

I don't have time to work on this for another month, but I can edit the Myth and some or all of the "History" like last year. I will write an unknown number questions in any non-science category if they still aren't completely written by the time my winter break starts.

Charles Martin Jr.University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignAcademic Buzzer Team | PresidentB.S. in Accountancy, August 2011B.S. in Finance, August 2011MAS Program, Class of 2012

mhayes wrote:What is the time frame for completion of our assignments? Also, what should we aim for in terms of difficulty, length, and style?

We plan to make the set available in mid-February, so writers should shoot for late January. Of course, earlier would be great if you can make it.

Difficulty/length/style are summarized in Dwight's welcome post in the CMST forum (select this usergroup in your control panels, if you haven't already, and Dwight will give you access.) When in doubt, check the two previous sets on the archive and aim for something similar.

I'd certainly be willing to help contribute to this. I could write 10/10 history, but I also wouldn't mind editing some of the history for this (Charles, would you like to do some of the World History, and I could do US History, or vice versa?)

EDIT: I seem to be having trouble finding the CMST user group. Could someone help me to find this?

Be happy to do 10/10 in whatever you need: would prefer history (US or World), geography, or civics as these are the subjects that I teach. However, I could easily do 10/10 in: sports, lit, grammar/spelling/English type stuff, or mythology if that is needed.

Just keep me away from mathematics, as I am a bit of a "mathematical Luddite"

Kristin Burns -Middle School Scholastic Bowl CoachKeith Country Day School - Rockford, Illinois

Hey everyone that has signed up to write for this, could you please start at least posting your proposed answer lines, so we can get a feel for what we have people to write for and what we still need to recruit people to write for?